Cued Speech is a modality for spoken languages developed by Dr. R. Orin Cornett at Gallaudet University in 1966. Cornett recognized that distinguishing features of spoken sounds were not available to deaf children and that lipreading was not reliable. He then devised manual signals that, when delivered with the information on the mouth, reintroduce distinguishing features so that all the building blocks of English are unambiguous in a visual channel. This means that deaf children have visual access to the phoneme stream of English.
Handshapes represent consonant phonemes. Placements and movements represent vowel phonemes. Cued Speech has been adapted to more than 50 languages and dialects.
While Cued Speech is the formal name of the system that Dr. Cornett developed, it does not represent speech. The cues do not show how we speak; that is, how we form consonants and vowels using our lips, tongue, and teeth.
Since we cue the phoneme stream, we are actually conveying language information at the most basic linguistic level.
Cues for American English
| Handshape Cue | Consonant Phonemes | Examples |
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/ppppppppp/, /ddddddddd/, /ʒzhzhʒzhzhʒzhzh/ | pirates dig treasure |
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/kkkkkkkkk/, /vvvvvvvvv/, /ðt͟htHðt͟htHðt͟htH/, /zzzzzzzzz/ | cows visit the zoo |
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/rrrrrrrrr/, /sssssssss/, /hhhhhhhhh/ | rattlesnakes hiss |
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/ʍhwhwʍhwhwʍhwhw/, /bbbbbbbbb/, /nnnnnnnnn/ | whales bite nails |
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/ttttttttt/, /mmmmmmmmm/, /fffffffff/, | too many fish |
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/ʃshshʃshshʃshsh/, /lllllllll/, /wwwwwwwww/ | sheep love wool |
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/ggggggggg/, /ʤjjʤjjʤjj/, /θththθththθthth/ | gorilla jewel thief |
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/jyyjyyjyy/, /ŋngngŋngngŋngng/, /ʧchchʧchchʧchch/ | young children |
Other terms to know:
- cued language - a language that is cued
- cued English/cued Spanish/cued Hebrew - a specific language that is cued
- spoken language - a language that is spoken (e.g., uses speech)
- signed language - a language that is signed
- written language - a language composed of orthographic symbols